Analyzing the Sustainable Development Impacts of Large-Scale CDM Projects on Host Countries

Abstract

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM objective is to assist the developed countries to achieve their emission reduction target levels and to contribute to the sustainable development of host countries. A sample of 614 registered large-scale CDM projects were analyzed for this study. A Gold Standard rating system was developed by an international organization to review existing CDM projects. The higher the rating given to a project by GS the more valuable its emission certificates is in the market. This research will develop a framework that will analyze the true impact of CDM projects on host countries. The framework includes economic, social, and environmental factors. In addition, a comparative analysis is conducted between existing GS certified projects (28) and non-certified projects (586) to see which projects can be categorized as GS. Applied Statistical Inference techniques were used using a statistical software program, which focuses on basic statistical analysis and hypothesis testing. Results have shown that the major impact of CDM projects was only related to job creation and reducing CO2 emission. In addition, statistical analyses have shown that the sustainability filter in GS has many flaws and should be reevaluated in order to be used as a rating system for CDM projects.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	American English
Supervisor	TOUFIC Mezher (Supervisor)